


Some Hazy Summer Evening

by JohnnieTheNB



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, Post-Canon, Thomas and Richard by a pond!, Vignette, also, cute lil boys, its just a happy lil story, lots of fluff, water lilies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23551123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnnieTheNB/pseuds/JohnnieTheNB
Summary: Thomas and Richard spend a day at a little pond in a forest.
Relationships: Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis
Comments: 8
Kudos: 66





	Some Hazy Summer Evening

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little thing I wrote because quarantine. I hope you enjoy! Also, I love your comments, and constructive criticism is always welcome! <3

Thomas Barrow had an idiot for a boyfriend. The water was far too cold to walk in. A sharp shiver ran up his spine as he hesitantly dipped a foot into the water.

“It’s too cold.” He informed Richard, a scowl plastered on his face. Richard only grinned up at him. He was further waded into the shallow pool than Thomas ever hoped to be. His trousers were all wet, rolled up as they were.

“Good! It’s supposed to be cold.”

“Why would I ever want to be cold?”

“So that you’re not hot.”

Thomas scowled at him once again as he shuffled a bit further into the water. His ankles were submerged now— he’d lost feeling in his toes. 

As much as Thomas liked to complain, it did sort of amaze him what a lovely place he was in. It was hot and humid today... it was the kind of day that weighed down on your soul and made you tired and unpleasantly sweaty. But being here... where the sunlight cut through the trees to make speckled shadows on the ground and hazy beams of gold in the air, and the lily pads on the water swayed silently with the current... it was more than Thomas ever could have dreamed.

The person who had taken him here was more than he could ever have dreamed. 

...But Richard was an idiot, and the pond was too cold.

Richard walked evenly through the pool and up to where Thomas stood at the edge of the bank. He was holding a water lily in his right hand. He tucked it wordlessly behind Thomas’s ear. Thomas felt his stomach churning, and, to his dismay, a smile creeping onto his face. 

He chuckled through his nose, his face heating up. 

“That’s not fair.” He told Richard.

Richard raised his eyebrows at him. 

“What’s not fair?”

And he was grinning cheekily like he was so good at, and he was standing far too close, and he smelled like honey and buttercups, and he was looking at Thomas dead in the eyes.

“You can’t bribe me to get in,” Thomas managed to choke out around the lump that had formed in his throat.

Richard shook his head slowly and held Thomas’ hands. He swung them back and forth.

“No, I can’t do that,” He said, his eyes narrowed. “But I can do this-“ And he yanked Thomas over the drop-off into the freezing cold water below.

Thomas gasped loudly at the shock of the cold hitting him all at once. He sputtered angrily upon finding his footing on the sandy pond floor. Richard was roaring with laughter.

“Fuck you!” Thomas told Richard. But Thomas wasn’t sure if he was angry or not.

“Only if you ask nicely.” Richard told Thomas, smiling hugely.

So Thomas glared at him venomously, and Richard laughed and laughed, until Thomas couldn’t help himself anymore and started laughing too. 

They were both sopping wet in their underclothes, waist-deep in pond water and shivering with the cold.

It couldn’t have been more perfect.

“You’re daft.” Said Thomas. He didn’t mean it.

“You’re beautiful.” Said Richard. He meant it. 

But Thomas was still shivering, so Richard took Thomas into his arms to keep him warm, and kissed like the world was going to end. Sometimes Thomas thought it was. When he was with Richard, he didn’t care.


End file.
